World’s Tallest Tent – Camping for Giants

Posted by ESmith

July 16, 2010

Many people know Kazakhstan only from Soviet era news and the movie Borat. It’s just one of those “cold -stan” countries out in Central Asia, right? Well after reading this article, you will know Kazakhstan for something else from now on: it houses the world’s tallest tent. Technically, the tent, formally called the Khan Shatyry Entertainment Center, is the worlds largest “tensile structure”, which means the building is only held up by tensile (or pulling) forces. It is 500 feet tall and has an area of over ten football fields.

The concept was first introduced by the president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev in 2006. Construction started in December of that year in Astana, the capital, and the tent opened in July 2010. The tent features special insulating plastic windows. Because the temperature in Astana can get to below -35°C (-31°F) and above 35°C (95°F), it is hard to keep the temperature at a constant room temperature, but the builders have accomplished just that. Inside the entertainment center, there will be hotels, stores, restaurants, mini golf courses, gardens, monorail, covered beaches, and other extravagant amenities. The project is part of a larger project to make the newly-relocated capital, Astana, a major tourist destination. Only the future will determine if this is true.

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